The invention relates in general to wireless communication systems and more specifically to managing wireless local area network (WLAN) services to multimode wireless communication devices.
Wireless local area networks (WLANs) and wireless wide area networks (WWANs) provide wireless communication services to portable communication devices where the WLANs typically provide services within geographical service areas that are smaller than the geographical areas serviced by WWANs. Examples of WWANs include systems that operate in accordance with 2.5 G (such as cdma2000), 3 G (such as UMTS, WiMax), and other types of technologies, where each base station of the WWAN is typically designed to cover a service area having a size measured in miles. The term WWAN is used primarily to distinguish this group of diverse technologies from WLANs that typically have smaller service areas on the order of 100 to 300 feet per base station. Base stations in WLANs are often referred to as access points. An access point may be connected to the Internet, intranet, or other network through wires or wirelessly through a WWAN. Examples of WLANs include systems using technologies such as Wi-Fi and other wireless protocols in accordance with IEEE 802.11 standards. WLANs typically provide higher bandwidth services than WWANs at the expense of non-ubiquitous coverage whereas WWANs provide increased coverage areas at the cost of bandwidth and/or capacity. In order to provide a wireless user with the increased overall performance and continuous connectivity, multimode mode wireless communication devices have been developed allowing the multimode wireless communication device to access the particular type of network that provides the most desirable tradeoffs. A multimode wireless communication device includes the appropriate components and functionality for communicating within more than one network. For example, a dual-mode wireless communication device can communicate within a WWAN and a WLAN.
Unfortunately, conventional techniques for managing the connection status between the multimode wireless communication device and the access point are limited in that they require GPS location information or include inefficient searching mechanisms executed by the multimode wireless communication device in order to establish service with a new network for performing a handoff between networks. For example, some conventional systems require the multimode wireless communication device to periodically tune to an alternate network channel in an attempt to detect an alternate network resulting in significant power consumption with a limited success rate of detecting alternate networks.
Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus, system, and method for initiating handoffs of a multimode wireless communication device from a WWAN to a WLAN.